Goa Flights may take a hit Union tells pilots ‘not to undertake flights’ NEW DELHI, APRIL 12
All flights to Goa are threatened to be stopped until month-end as the Indian Commercial Pilot’s Association (ICPA) struck back asking its members not to fly to the Dabolim airport until April 30 even as managements were engaged in talks with authorities to prevent shutdown of the services. Some 45 flights land at Goa daily.
“All Pilots are hereby directed ‘not to undertake flights’ repeat ‘not to undertake flights’ to VAGO (GOA) till the landing aids such as PAPI (Precision Approach Path Instrument) and GP (Glide Path) are fully available and functional”, ICPA General Secretary Rishabh Kapur said in a statement. ICPA is one of the two unions of the pilots.
The aggressive call was given by the Association in retaliation to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordering de-roster or suspension of pilots of four private airlines landing there on Monday during “curfew hours” notified making the airport off-limit for landing.
The DGCA has served notices on Kingfisher, GoAir, JetLite and Jet Airways to explain within 48 hours how their flights made “blind landing” risking lives of all aboard despite forewarning that the runaway is shut for certain hours from April 4 to April 30 for repairs of the radar system that guides landing.
Though the Indian Navy that maintains the airport allowed a small time span for landing of the civilian aircraft on one of its two runways until the repairs are completed, the pilots’ Association asserted that no flights will land till PAPI, runway lights and GP are made available on both runways.
While a DGCA official said the curfew was clamped on landing of flights at Dabolim only from 3 to 5.30 pm through a notice issued on April 1 at the instance of the Navy, the ICPA asserted that the directorate’s NOTAM (Notice to airmen) says the Goa airport is shut from 9 am to 1 pm and again from 3 pm to 7 pm, leaving hardly any time to land except to violate the restrictions.
Being a military airbase of INS Hansa, Dabolim airport is not open for landing of the civilian flights during the night hours while there are as many as 45 flights that land there during the day time, excluding the period when the Naval aircraft carry out the daily sorties for practice.
The DGCA cracked the whip on four airlines for violating its directive not to operate flights to Goa during certain hours when the ground navigational aids are switched off for carrying out the repairs. It is particularly very risky for blind landing of the jet aircraft as a slightest human error of pilot in gauging distance and height before touchdown can be disastrous, the DGCA official said.
PAPI is a crucial navigational aid to assist the pilot with the landing path and provide features like distance and height for touchdown and guide him to acquire and maintain the correct approach to the airport. It is basically a light array generally located beside the runway approximately 300 meters beyond the landing threshold of the runway and normally consists of four equi-spaced light units, colour-coded to provide a visual indication of an aircraft’s position relative to the designated glide slope for the runway.
Both DGCA and Navy had issued NOTAM regarding closure of these facilities from April 4 to April 30. DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan is quite furious at four flights landing at Dabolim airport without navigational aid at the airport, risking lives to passengers.
“Despite our warnings to respect the curfew hours, some airlines have violated this directive. They will have to pay for it. We will take action,” Bharat Bhushan told a news agency.
He said he had a meeting with the chiefs of operations of all airlines “and told them that these curfew hours should be respected entirely. I had also warned them that in case of any violation, we will come down heavily on the operators as well as the flying crew.”
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